Cooking with Candi

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting–Fall Treats

Posted on October 17, 2013 | Leave a comment

There are a few things I really love to eat. Mostly anything sweet and mostly dessert. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have an incredible sweet tooth. Funny that my name is Candi and I love candy, cookies, cakes and ice cream so very much. I would probably pass on most entrees and just cut to dessert if I had my way . When I was a kid I would gladly trade a sandwich for dessert any day of the week. Some things never change. I’d like to believe that my tastes in dessert have changed a wee bit and that I have a bit more of a sophisticated palate now but not when it comes to candy, I still love junky candy as much as I did when I was 6. However my taste in cake has definitely improved with age. I don’t think I would have enjoyed pumpkin cake as a kid but I really love it now. Anything baked with pumpkin gets high marks in my book and if you put cream cheese frosting on it it’s off the charts. It’s just the right amount of sugar and spice! Perfect Fall Cake and it may just find its way to my Thanksgiving Table. It really is a very easy recipe to follow , I made cupcakes but you can easily make this in a Pyrex 9 x13 inch pan as a sheet cake and frost it and decorate with candy corn or those little candy pumpkins!

Now you can make these without frosting and just eat like muffins with a little smear of cream cheese which wouldn’t be too bad either.

Shopping List:

1 can Pumpkin ( not pumpkin pie filling just Pumpkin) 15 oz. size

cream cheese and paper liners for cupcakes

Staples: (things you should have in your Pantry and fridge all the time)

all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, salt, vegetable oil, eggs, confectioner’s sugar, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, and milk

Ingredients:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 cup of sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves if no ground cloves you can substitute with pumpkin pie spice or nutmeg. I prefer cloves.

1 tsp. salt (regular table salt)

1 cup vegetable oil

1 can Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling) Pure Pumpkin

4 eggs ( room temperature please)

Cream Cheese Frosting:

2 cups of confectioner’s sugar

1/3 cup softened butter ( unsalted)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 oz. softened cream cheese ( soften in microwave) not melted just softened or you can leave it out for a bit and it will soften up. I actually used light cream cheese not fat free please. I mean the amount of calories is staggering, but you’re only going to eat 1 cupcake right? how many calories can possibly be in that????? Don’t tell me , I don’t want to know.

1 Tbsp. Milk ( I used skim plus)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. I mixed all dry ingredients together then mixed in eggs ( one at a time) and can of pumpkin and vegetable oil. Mix till combined, don’t overmix. No need to sift, just put dry ingredients in a bowl first and whisk together with a whisk , get some air in there.

Pour into a greased muffin pan about 3/4 full. I always use little paper liners and bake at 35o degrees for 20 – 30 minutes . Be careful not to over bake so the cake stays moist. I baked for 26 minutes. I started checking on them after 20 minutes.

Allow cupcakes to cool completely before frosting. I made my frosting in my electric mixer while cupcakes were cooling.

Frost Cupcakes / Cake and if you’d like decorate with some of those little Halloween Candies like candy corn or those little pumpkin shaped candies sold this time of year. Enjoy!

*should make about 16 cupcakes , I made 12 and a mini loaf.

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Posted in Baked Goods, Cake

Tagged Cake with Pumpkin and Cream Cheese, Cream Cheese Frosting, Fall Treats, Pumpkin Cake, Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Another Pasta e Fagioli Recipe, with meat

Posted on October 14, 2013 | Leave a comment

Monday morning re-blog. It’s really Fall and this is what I’m thinking about making today. We will eat it for dinner with a green salad, super yummy and satisfies as a hearty meal in a bowl. Enjoy! couldn’t be any easier. It freezes up beautifully. There is probably enough here for at least 8 -10 servings. Enjoy!

Cooking with Candi

This is another version of Pasta e Fagioli . It contains pancetta. Hurricane Sandy is about to touch down in NY and I figured this was as good a time as any to make this. I’ve always made my Pasta Fagioli the traditional way with carrots , onions and celery, a basic mirepoix. This recipe gives it a different base flavor, and you can also use canned cannellini beans for those of you who don’t want to fuss with the beans. This soup is hearty and delicious, and is worth a try for sure. I use canned beans when I am in a rush and don’t have time to soak the beans. You’ll need an immersion blender or regular blender to blend. This soup was amazingly delicious. I didn’t blend it completely just for a few minutes so there were still a few beans and pieces of pancetta. This was amazingly delicious…

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Banana Nutella Bread

Posted on October 11, 2013 | 5 comments

I love Nutella. I can eat it straight out of the jar and sometimes the only reason I resist making a cake with it is because the batter is so amazingly delicious that I end up eating so much of it not to mention eating Nutella right out of the jar. Enough said about that, I decided to bake a loaf with my over ripe bananas and Nutella. The only thing I didn’t add was nuts and I think they would be good in this so feel free to add some chopped nuts into the batter ( about 1/4 – 1/2 cup ) would be sufficient. Don’t over bake, baking time is an hour. I think I removed at about 55 minutes. So be sure to check with a cake tester in the center at about 50 minutes.

Staples:

eggs, baking powder, flour, baking soda, salt, 3 ripe bananas, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, vanilla extract and a 9 inch loaf pan

Shopping List:

Nutella and Chopped Nuts ( any kind you like)

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 bananas , very ripe is best, mashed

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs , room temperature please

1/2 cup Nutella

*1/4 – 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch loaf pan and set aside. I used Bakers Joy Spray which I love for baking.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in one bowl. Set aside.

In mixing bowl of electric mixer ( you can use a hand mixer as well) beat together the softened butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until creamy. Beat in the bananas and then add in eggs one at a time and vanilla until well combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined , don’t overmix.

Divide 1/2 of the batter into loaf pan and spoon Nutella on top and swirl with a knife gently, then add the other 1/2 of the batter and swirl again. This is how you will distribute the Nutella.

Bake for one hour or until a cake tester comes out with some moist crumbs attached. Let cool before removing from loaf pan.

Slice and enjoy!

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Posted in Baked Goods

Tagged Baking with Nutella, Banana Bread with Nutella, banana nutella bread, Nutella and Banana Bread, Nutella and Bananas

Chicken with Mushrooms

Posted on October 7, 2013 | Leave a comment

Monday morning re-blog here and I made this for Sunday Night dinner last night. It is made in one pot on stove and oven, my trusty Le Creuset pot. I actually used fresh thyme and highly recommend trying to use it, dry is fine but the fresh was really tasty. I won’t lie this recipe takes a bit of prep but totally worth it. Obviously there are a lot of ingredients you may not have as staples in your house so read through the recipe carefully. You’ll need sherry and white wine ( I used Pinot Grigio) and it was nice to drink what was left in the bottle with the meal! Enjoy and everyone will love it and be very impressed with you. I served with brown basmati rice and roasted cauliflower last night.

Cooking with Candi

Just going to say that we just finished this meal and I was so impressed with myself that I cooked it! It was amazingly delicious, thanks to Ina Garten’s new cookbook “Foolproof” , this chicken and mushroom dish was 5 star for sure. I only used 1 chicken but followed directions as if I was cooking 2, so I obviously had a lot of sauce left over. I served over rice pilaf and it would be awesome with a green vegetable but I never did get to pick anything up so we just had the chicken and rice . Perfect over rice , couscous or orzo, because the sauce is so so yummy. I don’t know about you but I am always on the search for new ways to cook chicken. This is a winner and not crazy difficult, while there are some moving parts you’ll want to pay attention while you cook. You can…

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“Make Believe” Mashed Potatoes made with Cauliflower

Posted on October 6, 2013 | 3 comments

I have wanted to make this since I heard about “mock” mashed potatatoes. I was inspired by other recipes to come up with this variation. My friend Karyn adds egg whites and I may try that next time. I did one version with chopped garlic and one without and preferred it without. Be very careful with the garlic, somehow it added too much flavor and I only used 1/2 tsp. of chopped garlic, I would omit it the next time completely. I couldn’t stop eating it and I think I ate almost the whole cauliflower by myself, I got Joel to taste it but he couldn’t get past the fact that it was cauliflower. I highly recommend this as a side dish without all the carbs that are in mashed potatoes. Nothing beats a good mashed potato but sometimes you just don’t want all the starch. The calories here are pretty low even with the little cream cheese and parmesan, I only added 1 tablespoon of butter. App. 149 calories per serving and there are 4 servings as is. (even though I personally ate 3 servings) easy to do . I really enjoyed this variation, so give it a try. Please let me know your versions of “make believe” mashed potatoes.

*calories were for recipe as is from The Food Network

Ingredients:

1 medium head cauliflower ( just a normal head of cauliflower) clean and cut into small pieces

1 softened tablespoon cream cheese, softened. I used “light”

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

* 1- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, I used about a tablespoon. Completely up to you.

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic* totally optional , see note at bottom

*you’ll need an immersion blender or food processor

Shopping List:

1 head cauliflower, cream cheese, and grated parmesan cheese. ( or grate it yourself)

Staples should include unsalted butter , kosher salt, and freshly ground black pepper.

Directions:

Set a stockpot of boiling salted water to boil over high heat.

Clean and cut cauliflower into small pieces. Cook in boiling water for between 6 and 10 minutes till cauliflower is cooked thoroughly, you’ll want it tender . Drain well, do not let cool down too much. I patted cauliflower dry with some kitchen towels, or dry between several layers of paper towels. However you prefer, just get excess water out and don’t let cauliflower cool down too much.

In a bowl with an immersion blender stick or in a food processor, puree the hot cauliflower with the cream cheese, Parmesan, salt and pepper until almost smooth. I added 1 tablespoon of unsalted butter while it was being pureed.

I would go very easy with the garlic or omit all together, as I have already said I liked it better with no garlic. Just giving you the option. If you love garlic add in 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic and taste before adding more. While you’re pureeing it you can taste it before you add more salt or garlic. You can try roasting garlic which might be a nice addition.

You can garnish with some cut up fresh chives if you’d like .

Super Easy!

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Lobsta Pasta

Posted on October 3, 2013 | 3 comments

What could be better than 2 of my most favorite foods together ? Lobster and Pasta and no wrangling with a messy lobster, just yummy lobster meat and tomatoes with pasta. I just adore this combo and while it may be a tad rich there is no heavy sauce just delicious fresh ingredients. I picked up the lobster meat at Grace’s Marketplace in Greenvale and I also use Roslyn Seafood Gourmet on Willis Avenue. I call ahead because they don’t always have it on hand so you may have to order ahead of time.
I got this recipe from the NY Times Wednesday dining Section and made a few adjustments to my liking. It is perfect for the summer, winter, spring or fall. I actually think it’s a perfect way to serve Lobster and the lobster goes pretty far in a recipe like this.
* 4-6 servings, or increase ingredients and make it for more.

Ingredients:

1 lb. cooked lobster meat

1 lb. pasta such as bucatini, lasagnetti, rigatoncini, or long ziti, macaroni or any sturdy type pasta.

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 large shallots finely diced

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (this was spicy so you may want to adjust to your liking)

app. 2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes or little grape tomatoes if you can find yellow tomatoes mix them in with the red tomatoes, I used a whole container , I sliced in 1/2 .

Joel eating Lobsta Pasta

Lobsta Pasta

Lobsta Pasta in the Pan

Colorful tomatoes available now

–I put 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt and a few grinds of the pepper mill on tomatoes. I added a teeny bit more salt, you’ll have to taste for it –taste a piece of tomato and you’ll know if you need more salt and pepper.

app. 2 handfuls basil leaves, torn or roughly chopped–obviously this adds a bit of punch to the plate but not entirely necessary.

Directions:

Bring a pot of well salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to directions for al dente.

Pour olive oil in a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook for a couple of minutes till shallots soften without browning. Add garlic and red pepper and cook down for another minute or so. Add tomatoes and season generously with salt and pepper, I like to break down the tomatoes a little, so I cooked for about 15 minutes. Add lobster meat to skillet, stir to coat and heat through for another 5 minutes. Turn off heat until pasta is ready.

When pasta is al dente, drain, add to skillet, and season with salt and pepper. Toss well and transfer to a wide bowl or platter. Add basil, toss once more and serve immediately. Keep a little pasta water on hand if you need to moisten pasta.

This was amazingly delicious, and what the hey we’re worth it right?

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Posted in lobster, pasta

Tagged Lobster, Lobster and Pasta

Chicken Cacciatore

Posted on September 30, 2013 | 1 comment

Monday re-blog . Fall is in the air and this is a most heart warming meal to take you from Fall into Winter. I made it for the first time last winter and we loved it. Makes for a beautiful gourmet presentation and would be lovely for a dinner party. Enjoy! Serve over rice, orzo or noodles or just as is.

Cooking with Candi

My daughter Jennifer turned me on to this delicious and I do mean delicious recipe. Original recipe from Giada de Laurentis . I took a few liberties with it and it turned out just perfectly. I only used 4 thighs and 2 breasts with skin on and bone in, if you’re not comfortable with the skin I would take out skin but leave the bone in. I am certain that there is enough sauce for at least 1 more thigh and 1 more breast , there was more than enough sauce. I served over brown rice and it was just perfect. This is a beautiful meal for a dinner party or just the two of you. I used my Le Creuset pot and it was a one pot meal. Thanks to Jenn for pointing it out to me, this one is a keeper.

Ingredients:

4 – 6 chicken thighs with skin on and bone in

2…

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Shelly’s Pumpkin Ginger Muffins – I love Pumpkin

Posted on September 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

Crisp air , gorgeous colors and delicious flavors of Fall. One of my most favorite ingredients for the Fall season is pumpkin, I can’t seem to get enough of it. I highly recommend Shelly’s pumpkin muffins if you’d like to get into the mood for Fall. Yum.

Cooking with Candi

My friend Shelly who is an excellent cook and baker gave this recipe to me back in 2012. I wanted to try them because I love all things Pumpkin and ’tis the season. I was leaving Colorado for the season and planned on freezing these delicious beauties so they would be here when we return. Shelly said that she freezes them, then takes them out for breakfast individually by putting the frozen muffin in the microwave or toaster oven. A little butter and jam don’t hurt either. The list of ingredients may seem daunting. I had to shop for a few of the items, but don’t let this stop you because these are fairly healthy and a perfect brunch/breakfast item, or good for just mid-afternoon tea. They contain fiber and aren’t cloyingly sweet. I love ginger and I love pumpkin. If you don’t like the ginger spice you can cut down or eliminate the crystallized ginger…

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Chicken with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

Posted on September 26, 2013 | Leave a comment

I wanted to make chicken but I wanted something new to do with chicken and just when you think you’ve hit the wall a recipe jumps out at you and there you go you have a new recipe to work on. At least that’s what happens to me and hopefully you’ll see this and you’ll want to make this recipe as well. I played around with ingredients and tweaked this one to where I liked it. I love artichoke hearts and wanted to use them in a recipe for a long time. I used bone in chicken breasts with the skin on because I really like them, you can use chicken cutlets as well, just modify the cooking of the chicken. I used cremini mushrooms and I would recommend frozen artichoke hearts.
Have fun with this recipe and enjoy it, we did.

After directions I now added shopping list and pantry items, hope this is helpful in your prep.

*serves 4 as is, can certainly be cut in 1/2

Ingredients:

4 chicken breast halves, skin on with bone ( you can certainly use boneless skinless chicken breasts if you like) *See note at bottom for boneless cutlets

3 Tbsp. olive oil

2 large shallots, chopped fine

8 ounce of mushrooms, I used cremini use whatever type of mushroom you like, totally up to you. From simple white, cremini, shiitake or oyster mushrooms. You’ll want to start with 2 cups of mushrooms.

2 T. all-purpose flour

2 cups chicken stock or broth

1 1/2 cup frozen artichoke hearts ( app. 10 hearts) quartered, defrosted and drained , I like the bag of frozen artichokes, if you can’t find frozen buy the canned

1 Tbsp.. Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

Kosher Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

1 tbsp. butter *optional

Directions:

Season the chicken with salt and pepper on both sides.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat, I used my Le Creuset dutch oven. When oil is hot add the chicken breasts skin side down . Cook about 3 minutes and gently with tongs take a look at it, you’ll want skin to be golden brown. * if you are using chicken cutlet style breasts , brown all sides. Remove chicken breasts to an oven-proof dish, and place in oven. Roast breasts for about 15 minutes for cutlets, and 30 minutes for breasts with bone-in , or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees. Meat thermometers come in handy with chicken, highly recommend a decent one.

While chicken is roasting, sauté the chopped shallots and mushrooms with a pinch of salt in oil and pan drippings ( you may need to add a little oil) until shallots are soft and mushrooms have begun to brown slightly and give off their liquid, stir in the flour and continue cooking over medium-low heat, stirring frequently about 5 minutes.

Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock, and raise heat, until sauce starts to simmer and reduce . Recipe calls for 2 cups , I added another 1/2 cup not whole cup, you’ll have to see how thick your sauce is and how long it sits. You can always add more.

Reduce heat to low and stir in artichoke hearts, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice and rosemary. Stir together and cook over low heat until sauce thickens and is blended together and fragrant. Taste for salt and pepper as you’d like. I turned off heat and covered pot till the chicken finished roasting.

If and only if you’d like you can add a Tblsp. of butter , not necessary but adds a bit of richness. Totally OK not to. Just saying….

When the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees, remove it from the oven and let it rest for a few minutes.

I plated chicken and put sauce over the chicken. Make sure you get plenty of artichoke hearts and mushroom pieces.

Over rice would be lovely. Or Orzo.

Yum!

*shopping list — is mushrooms, rosemary, chicken , shallots and frozen artichokes

*pantry staple— flour, lemons, Worcestershire sauce, kosher salt , ground pepper , butter, olive oil and chicken stock

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Posted in chicken

Tagged Artichokes and chicken, chicken with artichokes, Chicken with mushrooms and artichokes

Pumpkin Soup – Happy Fall

Posted on September 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

OK it’s really Fall so for my re-blog Monday I decided to post this delicious heartwarming soup. Pumpkin is Fall for me, no turning back as beautiful as the weather is . Fall in a bowl! Enjoy!

Cooking with Candi

Fall is here, and time to make soups, and hearty meals. Heartwarming and comforting is what comes to mind. This pumpkin soup is all of that–warm,sweet and savory all at the same time. It contains cream; and I do use heavy cream, you can probably substitute regular milk or skim milk I figure there are 8 servings and only 1/2 cup of cream in the total so it’s not too too terrible. You can also substitute vegetable broth for chicken broth for a vegetarian style soup. It’s a smooth delicious soup, and served with a nice green salad and some crusty bread, it’s awesome! Happy Fall.

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken / vegetable stock ( either one)

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

4 cups ( 2 cans) pumpkin puree ( not pie filling – be careful)

1 medium yellow onion chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme ( you can use fresh )

1 clove…

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Cooking with Candi

Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting–Fall Treats

Shopping List:

Staples: (things you should have in your Pantry and fridge all the time)

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Frosting:

Directions:

Another Pasta e Fagioli Recipe, with meat

Banana Nutella Bread

Staples:

Shopping List:

Ingredients:

Directions:

Chicken with Mushrooms

“Make Believe” Mashed Potatoes made with Cauliflower

Ingredients:

Shopping List:

Directions:

Lobsta Pasta

Ingredients:

Directions:

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

Shelly’s Pumpkin Ginger Muffins – I love Pumpkin

Chicken with Mushrooms and Artichoke Hearts

Ingredients:

Directions:

Pumpkin Soup – Happy Fall

Ingredients:

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